This study explores the 1980s Rosario proposal for Seoul and its implementation as part of the urban planning of the city, based on the concept of transit-oriented development (TOD), as an instrument to meet the challenges of housing shortage and road-traffic congestion. The proposal originated as a metropolitan scale plan to decentralize the old mono-centric spatial structure of the rapidly urbanized city with subway networks, and further included a prototype featuring TOD in an individual subway station area. The integrated approach was an attempt to develop diverse value-capture strategies for self-sustaining transit systems. The Seoul city government included this concept in its first official comprehensive plan in 1990, and has since contributed to Seoul's development towards becoming a transit-oriented city. This study provides valuable evidence for cities in the developing world that have aspirations to become transit-oriented. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.